Undone
by Winwin-chan
Summary: 15 years have passed since the Great Shinobi war has ended, and in that time, much has changed. When Sarada Uchiha, Sasuke and Sakura's daughter, is kidnapped, and no one is able to reach Sasuke, Naruto vows to do all he can to save her. After years of lost friendship, Naruto and Sakura must once again work together to rescue Sarada and unveil the mysteries of the past.
1. Chapter 1

Hey all. So, this story takes place after that ending we got there. Basically, it's undoing what was done. That's why it's called "Undone" ;) This story is NaruSaku, and you needn't worry! I'm going to try to make it as appropriate as possible and avoid cheating/adulterous stuff because I love these characters and I feel like they wouldn't do that. So bear with me, I've got some crazy ideas and it'll be one rockin' ride!

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><p>"Sarada! Are your chores finished yet?"<p>

Sakura hurried down the hall, a basket of laundry balanced on her hip. It had been an entire month since Sasuke had been home, and he had just called letting her know that he would be back tonight.

"Sarada! What are you—" She stopped short as she walked past Sarada's open door and saw her daughter lying in bed, a book open on her lap. Clothes were thrown all across the room and books piled up on all inches of the floor. "Sarada Uchiha. I told you over an hour ago to get to work on your room! Your father is coming back tonight and we can't have him coming home to a mess of a place!"

"Yeah yeah," Sarada muttered, flipping the page. "Gotta make everything perfect for dad, who's _never here_. Maybe we can trick him into thinking we're actually clean since he never stays long enough to actually know what it's like to live with us."

Stomps sounded in the room and in an instant Sakura had snatched Sarada's book out of her hands.

"Hey!"

"Sarada, you will never talk about your father like that again, do you understand me?" Sarada opened her mouth to retort but stopped at the look in her mother's eyes. Instead, she rolled her eyes and pushed herself out of bed.

"Fine, fine. Whatever. I'll get to work, all right?"

Sakura nodded her head. "Good. He'll be here in less than an hour. I'm going to start getting to work on dinner."

As she left her daughter's room, she tried to ignore the anxiety that rippled through her as her daughter's words echoed through her mind, over and over:_ Gotta make everything perfect for dad, who's never here._

She shrugged it off and headed into the kitchen. Sasuke would be home soon enough.

_The next morning_

Sakura awoke to the sun pouring through the windows. She shot up—a reflex from years of ninja training—and let out a gasp as a pain shot through her back.

"Stupid…" she muttered to herself. "That's what I get for falling asleep at the… table." In an instant, everything came flooding back to her. She was sitting in a wood chair and had spent all night bent over, her head resting on the kitchen table. She had spent all night, waiting in that stiff wooden chair for Sasuke to come home.

But he had never come.

She looked to the counter, where riceballs and dumplings sat cool and stale from sitting out the long night. Beside her, the phone blinked. A voice message.

She wiped the crust from her sleepless eyes and held the phone to her ear.

"Sakura. Sorry. Something came up. I won't be home for another few weeks… Two at the latest. I'll keep you updated."

The phone cut off to the ringing dial tone. There wasn't even an "I love you."

Sakura sat unmoving, just frozen with the phone against her face. She should have known. It was always like this. Always. In their ten years of marriage, he'd no doubt spent less than a third of that time with his family. Once again, Sarada's words came back to her: _Gotta make everything perfect for dad, who's never here._

The phone clattered to the table. Sakura buried her face in her hands.

That morning, Sarada awoke to the sound of her mother's sobs.

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><p>The clock on his bedside table flashed 5:30.<p>

Naruto closed his eyes, savoring the comfort of his bed for one last moment before he eased himself out from under the blankets and silently walked to the closet. He had gotten used to feeling his way around in the dark. After all, he didn't want to awake Hinata.

Once he was dressed in his ninja gear with his hokage cloak draped across his shoulders, he quietly snuck from the room. Hinata's quiet breathing disappeared behind him as he shut the door.

It was routine. Out before sunrise, back after sundown.

Spend as little time possible as he could in their small, sickeningly clean apartment.

Before he left, however, he pushed open Bolt's door. A sliver of moonlight rested on his face as he slept, snoring softly. Naruto smiled to himself. The snoring stopped as the little boy rolled onto his side and flopped his arm over the side of the bed, and then it began once again. Naruto came to his son's side and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"I love you," he whispered. Bolt didn't stir. With a wan smile, Naruto entered the room next door where Himawari slept soundly. "You too, Himawari."

He looked fondly at his daughter for a lingering moment before he shut the door and returned to the kitchen.

"Naruto-kun."

He only jumped slightly at the sound of his wife's voice. Like a guilty child caught in the act of breaking a rule, he slowly turned to face Hinata's blank eyes.

"Good morning, Hinata."

"Good morning."

A silence fell over them.

"I, uh... my meetings went late last night," he finally said.

She nodded. "Okay."

Silence.

"Look, I need to get going…" he said, backing towards the kitchen.

"I know." She looked down at her feet. Naruto stopped moving away.

"What? Hinata, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing… there's nothing wrong."

Lie.

He had been married to her long enough to know when she was lying. She never wanted to say anything to vindicate him. That had led to a long marriage of nothing but buried truths and little communication.

Even so, he just nodded and headed into the kitchen. Light from sunrise began to cast a reddish glow in the room. He opened the fridge and grabbed the lunch Hinata had prepared the night before.

"You didn't happen to also make a dinner, did you? I'm staying late again."

"Again?"

Naruto glanced at her as he put the lunch into his bag. "Yeah, again." Hinata wrapped her arms around herself and sighed, pointing at a tupperware in the fridge.

"There are leftovers from last night in there. You can bring those." Naruto nodded absently as he took it out of the fridge and placed it into his bag. "You know, the kids miss you a lot when you're gone. Bolt was really upset you didn't go to his presentation yesterday."

"Something came up."

"I… I miss you a lot when you're gone, too."

Naruto paused and looked at her, his expression blank. Then he turned away, slipping his bag onto his shoulders. "Well, I'm really busy. Sorry." Without another word, he threw open the door, welcoming the cool, morning air inside, and left.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! _I LIVE! _Anyway, I've been thinking about this story a lot lately and have decided I want to pull it out of the cupboard and begin working on it again. Thank you all for your comments. You have inspired me to continue working on this story. I have QUITE the ride planned for you up ahead, so please enjoy. Again, thanks for everything! I hope that these next chapters are worth it :)

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Naruto was asleep in the hokage chair when Shikamaru arrived.

"And a good morning to you," Shikamaru said. He dropped his bag to the ground with a thud. Naruto's eyes slowly opened and he groaned as he pushed himself up from his slouch.

"Morning Shikamaru," he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

Shikamaru leaned against the desk and folded his arms. "And to think I thought I'd be here early today," he said. "I decide to get here at 6:30 so I can work on some of that paperwork you keep throwing at me, and here you are. Asleep. Like always. Do you ever even _leave_ this place?"

Naruto stretched his arms out in front of him, yawning again. "Yeah."

"You're always here before dawn, but the only thing you do when you get here is sleep," Shikamaru said. His eyes narrowed. "What's going on with Hinata?"

"What? What are you talking about? There isn't—"

"Come on. I'm married too, and I wouldn't spend any more time at work than I had to. But every single free moment you have, you're either still working or hanging with the guys."

"I've always been that way," Naruto said. He dragged a stack of papers from a corner of the desk and plopped it in front of him. He pulled the top report off of the stack and began humming as his eyes flitted across the page.

Shikamaru snatched the report from out of his hands.

"Hey!"

"Don't lie to me. You never read these damn reports! You just don't want to talk to me. You know why? Because I'm right. I've thought it from the moment you two got married. Your fake smile, how you never spend as much time with her as we do with our wives. I've ignored it up until this point, but things have never gotten this bad before."

Naruto glared at Shikamaru. "I didn't come to work to get marriage counseling."

"Technically, work doesn't start for another hour and a half. That means that right now, I'm not the hokage's counselor, I'm Naruto Uzumaki's friend. And your friend isn't just going to sit by and watch you get more and more depressed and ruin your marriage."

"Oh yeah?"

Shikamaru pulled out the chair opposite Naruto's desk and spun it around. "All right, start talking," he said as he sank into the chair and rested his arms on its back.

Naruto shook his head. "Come on, this is just ridiculous. What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, man, anything! Just start complaining to me!"

"Fine! Do you want me to say that I hate being home because I can't stand being with my wife? That I can't stand how the only part of me that she can connect with is the part of me that she can physically take care of? How I can't confide anything with her because she never knows what to say? Or how I'm still in love with—" Naruto stopped abruptly and turned away from Shikamaru. After a few tense seconds, he heaved a sigh. "Look, if that's what you want, there you have it. I've complained. Now can we be done?"

"Still in love with—"

"Drop it, Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled. A cold wind blew in from the window, sending a chill down his spine. After a moment of silence, Shikamaru stood.

"If you don't have anything to say, I'll get started on the paperwork," he said.

Naruto nodded. "Sounds good."

Without another word, Shikamaru took his stack and left the room. When he was gone, Naruto yawned and leaned back in his chair, covering his face with his hokage hat. He closed his eyes, and within minutes he was asleep.

That morning, he had dreamt of a child. A happy blonde boy with bright green eyes and the sweetest little grin. His name was Shinachiku.

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><p>"Shinachiku!"<p>

Sakura bolted upright in bed, her heart pounding.

"Mom?" Sarada stood in the doorway. Her brow was knit together with worry.

"Oh!" Sakura wiped her forehead—ugh, it was dripping with sweat—and relaxed against the headboard. "Good morning, sweetie. What's wrong?"

Sarada frowned. "Who's Shinachiku?"

"Huh?"

"You said Shinachiku. Who is that?"

"I don't…" Sakura trailed off. Shinachiku. He was the boy from her dream. The boy who ran around the house in a mini-size hokage cloak shouting out "Dattebaro!" The boy who she instinctively knew was her son, but who was the spitting image of Naruto Uzumaki.

_What in the world…?_

"You know what, it's nothing," she said with a nod. She swung her legs off the side of the bed. "It's nothing, sweetie." The floor was frigid against her warm feet. She winced but pushed herself up from bed anyway, trying to block the images of that boy from her mind. "Did you need something?"

Sarada looked down at her feet. "Well... I was just getting ready to go to school and you weren't awake to give me a hug, so…"

Sakura laughed. "Oh, sure. Of course." Sarada ran across the room and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist.

"I love you, mom."

Sakura stood still for a moment, surprised, before draping her arms around her daughter. "I love you too, Sarada."

"Just, thanks for not leaving me."

It felt like a knife was being brought down upon an already open wound inside Sakura's heart. Sarada pulled away smiled sadly up at her. It took everything inside Sakura to smile back.

"You're going to come to my presentation today, right mom?"

"Yes, of course I am! Why wouldn't I?"

Sarada shrugged. "Some people don't come. Bolt's dad didn't come. He was really upset about that." Sakura winced. There it was, another knife to the heart. She would never have imagined Naruto being the kind of father he was. Negligent, too busy for his own family. "Speaking of, I was wondering. People are always saying that Bolt is just like his dad, but I can't see it. Lord hokage is so serious, and Bolt is so _annoying_."

Sakura laughed. "You'd be surprised at what the hokage used to be like. When we were kids, he'd always do the most annoying things."

Sarada cocked an eyebrow. "How come you never talk about him? I mean, you and dad were on a squad with him for a long time."

Sakura cleared her throat and glanced at the clock. "Oh, look at the time. It's 8:00. You should be on your way." She pushed past Sarada and swung the door open.

"Mom, you didn't—"

"Sarada. You need to get going."

Sarada pouted and with a sigh, dragged her feet to the front door. "All right, fine. See you later, mom."

The moment she was out the door, Sakura's smile vanished. Sarada still had no idea about the history between her mother and the village's leader.

And honestly, Sakura had no desire to tell her. Not yet, anyway.

She returned to her room, clicking the door shut behind her. It had been years since she'd done this. Only on particularly bad days with Sasuke did she ever even look at it. The last time, she'd vowed she'd never do it again. But today, with the dream and Sasuke's repeated betrayal, she felt weak.

As if with a will of her own, her feet carried her across the room and stopped beside her closet. She fell to her knees and pulled up the secret floor door that nobody else knew about. She reached down and pulled it out—a diamond ring taped down to a piece of paper worn for over 12 years.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at the beautiful diamond on its white gold band. More tears began to fall as she read the battered note it was taped to:

_Sakura-chan:_

_I'm sorry it couldn't work out between us, but I want you to keep this. Just to remember. _

_Naruto Uzumaki_

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><p>There it was, Konoha's own ninja academy. As Sakura neared the building, a mixture of feelings washed over her. It almost felt like yesterday that she was a student there, on a team with Naruto and Sasuke. Both of them grew up without families. Even though they were now both adults with families, it seemed like that much still hadn't changed.<p>

She sighed and opened the front door. As she did, a slight panic rose in her—what if Naruto were here? But she pushed the thought away and stepped inside anyway. There was someone standing on the opposite side of the hall, walking towards her. Her heart jumped into her throat as she realized who it was.

It was Naruto.

Crap_._

_Maybe if I turn around, he won't see—oh, he turned. Yup, he definitely saw me. It's way too late to turn around. Maybe he won't say anything, though, and—_

"Good afternoon, Uchiha-san."

_Crap._

"Good afternoon, Lord hokage." He smiled at her, but she could immediately sense that something wasn't right. Even though it had been years since they'd had a private conversation, she still knew him well enough to tell that the smile he wore now was fake.

"What are you doing here today?" he asked, the smile still plastered on his face.

"Sarada has a presentation," she said warily. "What about you? You'd think the hokage would be too busy to spend time at the academy."

He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Well, about that…"

"Naruto-kun?" someone said. Sakura turned. Hinata was coming down that hallway, little Himawari clinging to her hand. When Himawari saw Naruto, her face lit up and she barreled past Sakura and wrapped her arms around Naruto's legs.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, Himawari," he said, patting her head.

"I haven't seen you in so long! I miss you so much, daddy!" Sakura's eyes narrowed. Naruto scooped Himawari into his arms and tickled her belly. She laughed and shrieked, slapping his hands away. "Stop it, daddy, stop it!"

Naruto chuckled. "All right, right." And for a moment, the falseness in his smile disappeared and was replaced with true genuineness. But the moment he looked up at Hinata, it disappeared.

"Did something happen with Bolt?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah… he got into trouble. _Again_." Naruto sighed. "It was so bad this time that they're making me leave work to meet with him." Himawari wriggled out of his arms. For the first time, she seemed to notice Sakura. The instant she did, she grabbed onto Naruto's leg and peeked at her shyly from behind him. Sakura smiled at her, making Himawari smile back and dart over to her mother. "Anyway, that's about it."

"You know, maybe if you were able to make more time to spend with him he wouldn't get into trouble as much," Sakura said. Naruto's false smile faded. "An absent father is a hard thing for a child to deal with, especially when the only thing keeping them away is work."

"Okay," he said stiffly, turning away from Sakura and joining his wife and daughter. "Well I hope Sarada's presentation goes well."

"Goodbye, Uchiha-san!" Hinata said as she left. Sakura forced herself to wave and turned her back on them, her heart pounding with anger.

"I can't believe that bastard," she muttered to herself. Squaring her shoulders, she paced down the halls until she reached Sarada's classroom. She slipped into the room and clicked the door shut behind her. She breathed out a sigh of relief and turned her attention to the class.

_Come on, Sakura. Don't worry about that douchebag. Just think about Sarada. You have to be there for her. _

She forced a smile on her face and scanned the room for her precious child. It started to fade when Sarada was nowhere to be found.

"Uchiha-san?" Sakura looked up at the sound of her name. Shino, their teacher, was watching her curiously from the front of the room. "Why are you here?"

"Sarada had a presentation today," she said slowly.

Shino frowned. "Uchiha-san, Sarada never arrived at school."


End file.
